1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to telephone accessories and more particularly to telephone circuitry designed to energize a light fixture whenever the telephone line to which the circuitry is connected is ringing or in use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of telephone communication, hand sets are designed to transmit and receive oral communications and generally do not incorporate any features designed to visually assist the recipient of a telephone call. A recipient of a telephone call where the telephone is located in a darkened room or during the night hours would be visually assisted if the telephone set incorporated a lamp device that generated sufficient light for announcing an incoming telephone call and for writing notes and reading instructions associated with many telephone calls. Such visual assistance would also improve the accuracy of dialing and eliminate eye strain experienced by those persons attempting to dial a telephone in a room having inadequate lighting or in a room where the room lighting switch is inconvenient to the telephone user.
Attempts in the past to solve some of these problems have resulted in the following U.S. patents. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,828,543 to C. C. Phillips (Oct. 20, 1931) entitled Telephone Light, there is disclosed a battery operated, clamp-on lighting device suitable for installation on the vertical stem of the housing of an upright telephone (housing design now obsolete). The clamp-on device also included a memo pad shelf for writing and the lamp could be activated by a manual switch or automatically by an operable switch having a contact end disposed over the receiver hook such that when the receiver is lifted from the hook the hook will engage the contact and through the metallic part of the telphone complete a circuit for the lamp.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,945,956 to C. B. Rowell Feb. 6, 1934) entitled Telephone Stand and Light, there is disclosed a means for automatically closing a switch to illuminate the telephone dial when the receiver is removed for a supporting arm and to automatically open the switch when the receiver is replaced on the supporting arm. The automatic switch is in the form of a bell crank with two arms at right angles and pivoted at the housing. Also included is a spring employed to engage a finger on the automatic switch by means of a projection to throw or assist in throwing the automatic switch to an "on" or "off" position when the finger has passed over the center of the projection. A manual switch is also included.
Next, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,020,016 to M. J. Brusseau (Nov. 5, 1935) entitled Accessory Attachment For Telephone, there is disclosed a means for controlling the switching on and off of the illuminating means in response to lifting and replacement of the telephone instrument or receiver. A switch comprised of a pair of contacts is connected in series with a light bulb. A switch lever rockably supported on a pivot pin projects from the front of the housing. When an exposed end of the switch lever is down and the contact arm accordingly lifted from the contacts so that the switch is in the "off" position, an activating position of the switch is flat against a tray that holds the telehone. A spring urges the switch lever toward the "on" position. When the receiver is lifted from the cradle, the spring throws the switch to the "on" position and the light is illuminated. When the receiver is replaced into the cradle, the weight of the receiver overcomes the spring and the lamp is extinguished.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,677,043 to H. W. Hank Apr. 27, 1954) entitled Lamp Attachment For Telephone Instruments, there is disclosed an illuminating means having a normal automatic switching arrangement as well as a manual override. A rockable lever arm is designed to include a conductive bar which is aligned with a set of electrical contacts. The lever arm is rotated about a pivot point on the telephone housing having a front leg located underneath the telephone receiver on the cradle. A spring which is held under compression so as to exert continuous yielding pressure against the lever tending to bias the forwardly projected front leg of the lever upwardly whenever the front leg is not restrained against upward movement by the receiver. Whenever the switching arrangement permits, the lamp will illuminate when the receiver is lifted from the cradle as the spring will bias the contact bar into engagement with the contacts so as to complete a circuit therethrough. The lamp will extinguish after the receiver is placed on the cradle.
Each of the above recited patents are directed to automatically illuminating a lamp after a transmitter-receiver is manually removed from the hook and to automatically extinguish the lamp once the transmitter-receiver was returned to the hook or cradle. Although these references do teach visual assistance for the recepient of a telephone call to permit writing, reading, accurate dialing and to reduce eye strain, the references do not teach a telephone set incorporating a telephone light which generates sufficient light for announcing an incoming telephone call which would be helpful to receipients of telephone calls in darkened rooms as well as to the hearing-impaired and those persons too far from the telephone to hear the ringer. This problem continues to exist without a solution to this long-felt need in the industry.